


First to Open Your Mouth

by walkalittleline



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: I love drunk flirty caduceus, M/M, episode 92 spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22486303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkalittleline/pseuds/walkalittleline
Summary: “Your hair really is nice,” Caduceus murmurs.Fjord chuckles, trying to ignore the warmth that prickles over the back of his neck at the compliment.“Thank you,” he replies. “I do think yours is better, though.”Caduceus hums again.“I like it longer like you have it now,” he says. His voice is slow and deep, words running together like molasses. “It looks soft. Is it soft?”
Relationships: Caduceus Clay/Fjord
Comments: 17
Kudos: 567





	First to Open Your Mouth

He’s been watching Caduceus’ head nod dangerously towards his cup every now and then for the last twenty minutes or so since he moved to sit with Beau. They’re in comfortable silence now, though he can hear her sniff quietly every now and then, and he can’t stop his eyes from wandering to where Caduceus is sitting between Yasha and Jester, looking content and sleepy. His long-lashed eyelids are drooping heavily, slow blinks that sometimes last so long Fjord thinks he might actually have nodded off.

“Are you alright?” he murmurs, leaning into Beau’s shoulder. “Do you need anything?”

“Mm, no,” Beau mutters. She sighs. “I’m good. Just… just want to think.”

“I’m going to take Caduceus upstairs before he falls asleep and hurts himself,” Fjord says, watching her red-rimmed eyes shift to Caduceus and a small smile twitch up her lips as she laughs quietly.

“Probably a good idea,” she replies. Her voice is thick from crying. “He really is a lightweight for as big as he is.”

Fjord chuckles, clapping her on the back and giving her shoulder a firm squeeze as he stands and makes his way over to the bar where Caduceus is now slumped against Yasha’s shoulder.

“Alright, you,” he says, laying his hand between Caduceus’ shoulder blades, “time for bed, I think.”

Caduceus turns to give him a bleary, unfocused look that morphs into a wide, drowsy smile.

“Hi, Fjord.” 

“You need some sleep,” Fjord says. He helps Caduceus to his feet, knees buckling when he leans heavily against him.

“Need some help?” Yasha offers, eyeing Caduceus warily.

“No, I’ve got him,” Fjord assures her. He slips his arm around Caduceus’ waist to steady him, ignoring the sly sort of smirk Jester gives him as he steers Caduceus towards the stairs.

Caduceus’ steps are long but unhurried, his posture slumped so heavily that he’s an inch shorter than Fjord, his head tilted almost against Fjord’s own.

“You doing alright?” Fjord says as they mount the stairs and begin the slow climb.

Caduceus hums in affirmation, the sound trailing into a soft noise Fjord can only describe as a giggle, rumbling in Caduceus’ chest. Fjord feels his eyes on him and gives him a sidelong glance, catching the curl of his pale eyelashes and the slope of his nose before he faces forwards again.

“Your hair really is nice,” Caduceus murmurs.

Fjord chuckles, trying to ignore the warmth that prickles over the back of his neck at the compliment.

“Thank you,” he replies. “I do think yours is better, though.”

Caduceus hums again.

“I like it longer like you have it now,” he says. His voice is slow and deep, words running together like molasses. “It looks soft. Is it soft?”

He doesn’t wait for a response before Fjord feels long, slender fingers brush up the back of his skull and comb through his hair. He stumbles a little in surprise, arm tightening automatically around Caduceus’ waist.

“Is it soft,” Caduceus mumbles, sounding pleased at the revelation. He hums again, a thoughtful sound, and let’s the backs of his fingers trail down Fjord’s cheek absently. 

Fjord tries to focus on finishing the climb up the stairs and the walk down the hall to their waiting room, the heat now blooming across his cheeks and the tips of his ears. He doesn’t mention how he’s always wondered how soft Caduceus’ hair, so sleek and smooth looking, is.

“Your tusks are really coming in,” Caduceus observes. He pokes the tip of one of Fjord’s stunted tusks with his finger and Fjord sees him smile out of the corner of his eye, warm and lopsided. “They look nice.”

“Thank you,” Fjord mutters, relieved when Caduceus’ hand finally drops back to his side.

Caduceus sighs, the sound weirdly forlorn.

“Something on your mind?” Fjord says and tries to regain his composure.

“You’re so handsome,” Caduceus murmurs, so quiet and slurred Fjord wonders if he meant to say it at all. 

“I-I—“

“You have such a nice jaw,” Caduceus continues as if he wasn’t interrupted. “And your nose and eyes.” He sighs again and it takes everything for Fjord to take those last few steps to the open door and shuffle inside, catching Caduceus around the middle when he stumbles on the threshold.

“I think you need some rest,” Fjord says. He avoids Caduceus’ eye as he sits him on the edge of the bed, watching him sway once before flopping back onto it with a content sound. “I’ll, um, I’ll be back up later.”

He’s barely turned to leave when he hears the bed shift.

“Don’t go.”

Caduceus’ voice is small and almost worried. When Fjord turns back reluctantly he’s sitting up again, watching Fjord with those bright, heavy-lidded eyes, expression shy and unsure.

“Don’t go,” he repeats. “Please.”

Fjord hesitates, chewing on his bottom lip, before taking a few tentative steps back towards the bed. Caduceus’ posture is slouched forward, face tilted up towards him, eyes slightly unfocused from the alcohol.

“I want to kiss you,” he murmurs. The high arches of his cheeks are flushed dark but he holds Fjord’s gaze steadily.

Fjord ignores the leap in his heart rate as he says it, swallowing dryly.

“You’re not thinking straight right now,” he says gently. “You’re tired and drunk, you need to sleep.”

“I wanted to before today,” Caduceus insists. He lifts his hand hesitantly, eyes flirting over Fjord’s face, before resting it lightly on Fjord’s cheek, his thumb brushing over the corner of his lips. He looks almost awed, like he can’t fully believe what he’s doing. Fjord sees his throat work as he swallows.

It takes all of Fjord’s self-control not to lean into his broad palm, instead catching his wrist in his own hand and pulling it away gently.

“Caduceus…”

He watches Caduceus’ expression fall rapidly into one of such pained dejection it makes his chest ache.

“No, no, don’t think—this isn’t the time for that,” Fjord says hastily. He drops down to kneel in front of him, tilting his chin up so he’s forced to meet his eye. “We need to talk about this, figure this out when you’re in your right mind. I wouldn’t forgive myself if I did anything different.”

Caduceus gives him a considering look then nods reluctantly.

“Can I… kiss you once?” he says softly. “Just to know it’s real?”

He looks so shyly hopeful that Fjord can’t help but smile.

“Okay,” he says. “One kiss.”

He bites back a fond smile when Caduceus’ eyes fall shut and his lips purse almost imperceptibly, expectant. Fjord tilts his head up and presses a kiss to the very corner of his lips, brushing his fingers down his jaw as he does.

When he pulls away to sit back on his knees again, he laughs at Caduceus’ almost petulantly disappointed frown.

“That wasn’t very fair,” he mutters.

“I’ll make up for it tomorrow,” Fjord murmurs, pressing another kiss to his cheek, then the other, then leaving a final one on his forehead.

“I’ll hold you to that,” Caduceus says. He’s smiling now, a familiar fondness in his eyes as he touches his fingertips to Fjord’s temple and combs his fingers through his hair. 

There’s a spark of heat behind his eyes that nearly breaks Fjord’s resolve, the thought of giving in and catching Caduceus lips in a real kiss to see where that heat leads springing to his mind. He stands instead, though, dropping a final kiss to the top of Caduceus’ head as he does.

“Sleep,” he says, nodding to the bed. “I’m going to go check on Beau, make sure she’s not trying to drown herself in alcohol.”

Caduceus hums, nodding and curling onto his side against the pillows. He yawns widely and Fjord has to stop himself from kissing him again with the rush of fondness that hits him, settling instead for tucking his hair behind his ear.

Caduceus smiles at the gesture, content and sleepy. Fjord pauses in the doorway to look back at him, the glow of affection warm in his chest, before shutting the door carefully behind him as he heads back downstairs.


End file.
